The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Cuphea, botanically known as Cuphea procumbens and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Ri Reeda’.
The new Cuphea is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Gilroy, Calif. The objective of the breeding program is to create new compact and freely branching Cuphea cultivars with numerous and attractive flowers and good garden performance.
The new Cuphea originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in July, 2002 in Gilroy, Calif. of a proprietary selection of Cuphea procumbens identified as code number 26-2, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary selection of Cuphea procumbens identified as code number 16-1, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. Seeds collected from the stated cross-pollination were sown in September, 2003. The new Cuphea was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled greenhouse environment in Gilroy, Calif. December, 2003.
Asexual reproduction of the new Cuphea by cuttings in a controlled greenhouse environment in Gilroy, since January, 2004, has shown that the unique features of this new Cuphea are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.